Long-Term Care

A bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require States to disregard benefits paid under LTC insurance for purposes of determining Medicaid eligibility, to expand partnerships between States and insurers, to amend the IRS Code of 1986 to allow individuals a deduction for qualified LTC insurance premiums, the use of such insurance under cafeteria plans and flexible spending arrangements, and a credit to establish HCBS services as an optional Medicaid benefit.

Facts about fast track, presumptive and expedited eligibility. Includes information about how can states implement it, who pays when mistakes are made and which states expedite the financial eligibility decision. Fast track and presumptive eligibility are two ways to expedite a person’s financial application for Medicaid.

Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals is currently advertising for a Director to lead its newly created unit for Aging/Adult Long Term Care services. Creation of this unit is part of an exciting, larger effort to reform how the state delivers long term supports and services to older adults and people with disabilities. The deadline to apply for this position is August 6th.

The 2005 Annual Research Meeting is AcademyHealth's premier forum for health services research. More than 2,300 leading health services researchers and policymakers attended the meeting to hear the latest findings on critical health care delivery topics such as, Medicare, coverage & access, disparities, health information technology, long-term care, health care quality, and patient safety. Review the agenda and over 130 presentations covering 17 major areas of health services research & policy.

This website was developed through a joint effort by a number of community agency and provider groups as a resource for people working to protect Medicaid. The site offers ready-to-use toolkit of messages, materials and dissemination ideas. There are resources on Federal updates and action steps, ideas on ways to reach the media, background, tips and links and real stories from the 50 million Americans that Medicaid Matters to most.

This report provides an overview of the NFT initiatives implemented by 18 of the FY ‘01 and FY ‘02 Systems Change Grantees. It describes their differing approaches to nursing facility diversion and/or transition within a framework of the key steps needed to create programs that are integrated into a state’s LTC system. This report also identifies the transition challenges and policy issues states and ILCs are facing, and discusses the implications for moving forward with rebalancing efforts.

Caregiving is often life changing and consuming, leaving some caregivers exhausted and depressed. Some 15 percent of family caregivers report high levels of overall stress as a result of caring for an older family member or friend with long-term care needs. Caring for a friend or relative, however, can also be a positive and rewarding experience. This Profile provides a data overview of the physical, emotional, financial and social experiences of primary family caregivers.

This report is from a designated mini-conference event by the 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA). Its purpose was to provide the full WHCoA Policy Committee with recommendations specific to long-term care that could be considered for incorporation into its final policy recommendations to the President and Congress. The report contains final recommendations in three areas: Economic Security & Long-Term Care Financing, Health and Independence and Supportive Services.

Long term care reform is happening across the nation and some states are using systems change as an opportunity to better coordinate across aging and disability networks. Using the HHS framework as a guide, this paper examines promising practices in LTC reform in four states: Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wisconsin. As part of our examination of systems change in these states, we will consider how their LTC reform efforts have impacted collaboration across aging and disability networks.

This paper from NGA includes a number of potential short-run policy changes as well as long-run structural changes to improve the US health care system. The policies outlined do not represent comprehensive reform but instead 5 linking objectives: Reforming Medicaid; Enhancing Quality & Reducing Costs in the Overall Health Care System; Strengthening Employer-Based & Other Forms of Private Health Care Coverage; Slowing the Growth of Medicaid LTC; State Contribution to the Medicare Drug Benefit.